


And I Shall Live Forever (if you remember my name)

by Cloudseer



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Family Feels, Gen, Low key plotting, eventual godslaying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-05-31 01:05:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19415284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudseer/pseuds/Cloudseer
Summary: It just takes one person to change the course of prophecy, one mistake to start a downfall and one family to save the world. Or at least their place in it.





	1. [     ]

**Author's Note:**

> A collection of snippets inspired by one thread in tumblr
> 
> What if Ardyn and Somnus had had a sister?

i

It was always the three of them. Even when she was the youngest she was never made to feel unwelcome. Even when it took her longer to handle her gifts her brothers had only encouraging words for her. She learned about them anyways, because teethless was never in her blood and magic ran through her veins. Because sooner or later they’d need her and she would always stand besides them. 

ii

It started with hope. When the Astrals offered a solution and her eldest, gentlest, brother clung to it. They followed him, because what else could they do? He wanted to try, and what else are siblings for if not to be there, come what may.

He’d never make it on his own. That is why the three of them kept together.

iii

She hid her mounting horror. They both did. She learned to mask hers deep beneath a placid smile. She was always polite, whenever Their attention shifted to her. She smiled and bowed gracefully, as she’d been taught, while she buried her despair and her rage as deep as she could. And as her brother’s condition worsened all she could do was trade empty reassurances with the only one she could be honest with.

‘It’ll be over soon’ the younger siblings muttered to each other, ‘it’ll be over soon and he will be back to normal again’. Everything would be alright.

iv

It was only disbelief, what she felt when the rejection happened. The rage came later. It came when, as she rocked a cradle, deep into the night, He came to her. He made demands. Because her brother was tainted now, he said, impure. All his virtues sacrificed because he _tried_. And he needed to die. But not yet. Not until some convoluted circumstances came to pass.

They’d all die, she realized, if she acquiesced. Every last bit of her, of her brothers, would be gone.

So she raged. She would not betray her brother. Even if the world fell to darkness, she would not. She told the Draconian as much.

v

She almost missed the warning, when it came. A moth, black and invisible in the darkness fluttered around her, circling her head until she noticed. She wasn’t afraid, she knew what it meant and she felt more resignation than dread. But there was hope as well, when the moth landed on her extended hand and she realized that at least one of Them thought of her family as more that pawns.

Curses are powerful things, when they come entwined in the blessings of a mother. She had planted a seed, deep into her bloodline. _Do not believe their lies_ it said. It would grow, in time.

vi

Vengeance. The thought ran continuously through his mind as he listened, impassive, to Their plans. His brother had obeyed and he was changed. His sister had rebelled, and she was dead. And now it came to him, the middle child, who had been overlooked until there were no alternatives.

They would not take his family from him, he determined, even as he agreed. Even as he pretended to obey. Even if it took thousands of years, they would have retribution.

They grieved together, in private. Just the two of them. And as the grief faded and was replaced by hatred, they planned.

The reign of the gods would come to an end, and their family would endure, come what may.


	2. [Ardyn]

##  vii

He dreamed of her. It wasn’t something that happened frequently, just often enough that he wouldn’t forget her. Her face and the look of her eyes, the warmth in her voice, her laughter. It was just enough to keep him human, even in his darkest moments.

(And yet not her name. Never her name. One last, final punishment for her defiance. That the world would never remember her existence.)

##  viii

The Forgotten.

He never expected his niece to be so bold. To have erected a statue of  _ her _ , in the heart of Insomnia. It wasn’t as imposing or massive as the ones of the Lucii that adorned certain points of the growing city but it was her, his baby sister, looking just as she did the last time he saw her.

He does his best to bury the spark of jealousy that comes every time he remembers his brother’s line can use the ring to actually interact with her. 

##  ix

It was the work of a few generations of gentle prodding, for the kingdom to very slowly drift away from public, official worship, but they had succeeded. Shifting the perception that matters of faith should be kept private had been one of his better ideas, truly, even if his dearest wish was for it to stop altogether.

There had been a slight bit of pushback, at first, but most of their people were not the most fond of long, traditional services and eventually, temples sat empty for most of the time. 

##  x

When they figured out the draining effects of the crystal on his family, he came very close to snapping. The only thing that held him back was the knowledge that he wouldn’t succeed. And he briefly wondered if his sister’s descendants, who knew nothing of the truth, had to contend with something like that. An artifact that sapped the life and vitality out of them, or if, at least in that, they had been spared.

The Wise started it, the secretive fund to anyone that approached with a curiosity for the study of magic would get access to. Releasing information by trickles, until doubt set root in their people. 

##  xi

He hadn’t given much thought to the civilization that rose from the ashes of Solheim. Not even when they had started to make inroads in their study of the old technology. But centuries after, when their war had forced his nephew to raise a wall around his kingdom, he had to wonder if the conflict had been part of the Draconian’s plan since the beginning.

What would have become of him, of his family, if his brother had truly done as ordered and trapped him in that ancient, cursed island?


	3. [Somnus]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A king falls, a king rises. And the cycle begins.

**xii**

The both of them stared at his brother in horror, while he looked so calm and unconcerned after what he just asked of them. There would be no convincing him, he knew. His mind was set, just as it had been before they all had lost so much.

They agreed, curse him. But he was still their king and if he was right? If he was right they couldn’t risk otherwise.

**xiii**

He couldn’t watch. And yet he couldn’t look away. It wouldn’t be proper. Not when he had ostensibly ordered it. Not when his brother’s Shield heeded his orders instead. Not with Him watching them so closely. 

‘You will do it’ his brother had said, embracing them both. ‘You will do it and I will know it’s a lie. But He will believe, and you will be safe.’ 

**xiv**

He asked no questions when the swordsman disappeared, he knew what he was doing after all. And he did not question why he had a different sword when he returned, he could hazard a guess. He accepted his oath despite knowing who he really belonged to. It was theatre and they would go through the motions.

He did not ask either, when his new Shield struck at his brother. He deserved it. And by the way he laughed, by the way he held them close, he knew it. 

**xv**

She was a stranger. But of all the candidates his brother and his Shield vetted for him, her he remembered. She had been at the pyre. The few times he had dared watch the crowd rather than his brother’s suffering he kept looking at her. 

Not once had she raised her eyes from the ground. For that alone, he supposed, he could love her.

**xvi**

‘Tenebrae.’ It was the first word his brother uttered when he finally returned. He had been searching, the only one that could, for their sister’s children. And he felt hope for an instant before his next words crushed it. ‘I couldn’t get closer, She has them.’

At least they knew where they were. At least they knew they lived. Even if they had been too young to even remember their mother. It was for them too, that they would do this.

_**xvii** _

The Mystic

That was the title his father whispered to him, the one he had obtained when he entered the Ring. It had looked so innocuous, one more symbol of his rule. Now he felt sick just looking at it as the chain it was, even if his father’s continued presence was welcome. 

The only way to go was forward, as he had been taught and his uncle had reminded him before embracing him in goodbye. His Shield has left with him, and he knew he would only see one of them again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it has been a while, but I can explain
> 
> ... 
> 
> I got lazy


	4. [Ravus]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blessing can be seen as a curse, and a lie as the truth.
> 
> In a world of lies, an ancient seed finally blooms.

xviii

He had heard the same tale countless times. One he used to like, when he thought it was a bedtime story. Made up fiction was always sweet. 

But as he became more aware, as it became more elaborate, it started to set his teeth on edge. It saddened his mother, to be told he didn’t like the story anymore. It wasn’t her fault, she thought it was the truth.

He just wasn’t comfortable with lies anymore. 

xix

Growing up, he was never a personable one. It took him time to understand that falsehood never felt different, to others. To him there was always the undertaste of wrongness if there was malice involved. 

But even when told in ignorance, he knew. It was the slightest bit terrifying. Knowing the ancient history of his family was never a truth. And yet he had never found a source that hinted towards it. 

xx

He didn’t like the woman that had attached herself to his sister. Moreover, she scared him. He had been told she was a messenger, an envoy of the astrals, sent to advice the chosen Oracle in her destiny. 

She wasn’t, not a messenger, not advising. She was something inhuman subtly wrapping orders in gentleness. And no one seemed to notice. 

The only comfort he could take was that Gentiana avoided him as conscientiously as he did her.

xxi

He had always known the prophecy was a carefully constructed lie. Nothing more than a pretty promise. 

Pretty, unless one of those fated to die was his sister. He never knew he could hate a string of words with such intensity. It wasn’t easy either, not to blame his own people, or his mother for believing it. 

He could hate the astrals though, for who else could make a prophecy that no one ever questioned. 

xxii

‘I am so sorry nephew’ He could have imagined it. The words, the bare brush of a touch. In other circumstances he would have forgotten it all. But everything about that day was seared into his mind. 

He didn’t even have the comfort of having his sister by his side. They were kept apart, but as long as the world thought she was important she would be safe. She may have been safer, behind that old, impenetrable Wall, if the Lucian king hadn’t lost his grip. 

But it now fell to him, to keep his sister alive, no matter the cost. And maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t entirely alone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally forgot I had this one ready.


End file.
